Effects of Armed Conflicts on Women

Armed conflict has always been an inherent characteristic of the world we live in. The causes of conflict can be multifarious ranging from attempts to gain economic, political or territorial advantage to social factors such as religion and ethnicity. Armed conflicts can also be varied in nature with inter, intra and even non state combatants fighting against each other. The complexity and scale of armed conflicts have increased to a great extent with the emergence of non-state terrorist and mercenary groups that lacks the distinctiveness of traditional state armies fighting against each other. The consequences have been devastating for an increasing number of the population of the world who are affected by such armed conflicts. These include not only the combatants but also civilians who get caught up in the fighting in one way or the other. In fact civilian casualties have been on the rise and climbing â€Å"dramatically from 5 per cent at the turn of the century, to 15 per cent during World War I, to 65 per cent by the end of World War II, to more than 75 per cent in the wars of the 1990s. † (UN Report, 2001) A very stereotypical view regarding armed conflicts is that it is the men who fight the battles while the women support them by taking care of the home front. Men are perceived as the fighters who suffer causalities while women have to play out the traditional roles of wives, mothers and care givers and are therefore comparatively unaffected by war. Byrne (1996) however holds that even though it is largely men who directly fight and die in battles, it is women who constitute an overwhelming majority of the civilian casualties of war. Byrne goes on to add that the concept of women staying safely at home while the men fight the war at the front, and the differentiation between ‘conflict’ and ‘safe’ zones in armed conflict are essentially myths that do not take stock of the practical situation. Moreover, the fact that a growing number of women are also participating in armed conflicts around the world as active combatants and not merely as passive support providers adds a new dimension to the effects of armed conflicts on women. The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and the role of Women in Peace-Building (2001) commissioned by the United Nations Development Funds for Women chose ‘During Armed Conflict Women’s Bodies Become a Battleground’ as the title of the introductory chapter of its report. This exemplifies the extent of violence against women as a result of armed conflicts. Civilians have become the primary targets in new terror tactics that have evolved in armed conflicts. But it is women who suffer most. Men and boys as well as women and girls are the victims of this targeting, but women, much more than men, suffer gender-based violence. Their bodies become a battleground over which opposing forces struggle. † (Rehn & Sirleaf, 2001) The United Nations defines violence against women as â€Å"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, inc luding threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private. † (Machel, 2000) It is a matter of grave concern that women are actually subjected to every conceivable act of violence and more, that can fall under the purview of the definition. Not only do women face generic violence such as torture, killing, imprisonment and forced labour under conditions of war, but they also suffer gender-specific violence that strike at the very core of their existence. They are abducted and raped, used as sexual slaves, forced to cook, clean, carry water and loads and do other domestic chores; and even used as human shields or put to risky undertakings such clearing minefields. There are numerous examples. Rehn & Sirleaf (2001) reports that â€Å"94% per cent of displaced households surveyed in Sierra Leone had experienced sexual assaults, including rape, torture and sexual slavery†¦ at least 250,000 – perhaps as many as 500,000 – women were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. † This however is only the tip of the iceberg. The sufferings of women in armed conflicts never seem to end. They are forced by the circumstances to sell sex to survive, they are taken advantage of sexually even by people who are supposed to help them, and finally, they have to face censure at the hands of those very near and dear ones for whom they make all the sacrifices. Such is their plight. The Reason Why The roots of the violence that women suffer during the course of armed conflicts are however opined to lie elsewhere. Violence is said to be perpetuated on women not solely because of the conditions of war but because of a direct relation with violence in the life of women even during peace time (Rehn & Sirleaf 2001). The relationship between the genders is determined by the extent of access to or distribution of power. Men are in more control of resources and power than women. Since women do not have control over power and resources they as a gender are usually not the cause behind wars. In spite of that they suffer because of their inherent power and control position vis-a-vis men. Again, the greater emphasis by nations on increasing their military strength results in a deterioration of the rights of women exacerbating the inequalities in gender relations. In a display of unadulterated hypocrisy however, many armed conflicts are justified on the grounds of restoring or maintaining gender equality. This was clearly the case in the American invasion of Afghanistan ion 2001 when liberation of women from the fanatical regime of the Talibans was cited as a reason even though there was hardly any concern for the plight of the same women during the five years prior to the invasion even when local and international NGOs constantly strived to draw attention to their sufferings (Jack, 2003). It is very true that â€Å"although entire communities suffer the consequences of armed conflict and terrorism, women and girls are particularly affected because of their status in society and their sex. † (Beijing Declaration, 1996). The effect of war on women depends to a great extent on their gendered role that defines their constraints and opportunities in society. Women become more vulnerable war atrocities when they are perceived as symbolic bearers of the pride and honour of a community. In such cases women are specifically targeted as a way of denting the very essence of he rival community. In regions where women are deemed to represent the cultural and ethnic identity of communities as the producer of future generations, any assault on their honour becomes an assault on the morale and honour of the entire community. Under such circumstances public rape and torture of women is considered to have serious demoralizing effects on enemy communities. The victors or occupation forces resort to sexual exploitation of women because of such underlying war strategies coupled with inherent sexual urges. Yet the same symbolic role of women can be a cause of threat or attack even from their own community for not conforming to the role in some way or the other in adverse conditions, such as not wearing a veil or venturing into forbidden areas as has been the case in the Islamic world. Armed conflict is therefore like a double edged sword for women. Societal norms also force women to bear atrocities. The comments of a doctor working with Save the Children Fund, in an ICRC/TVE film (2000) illustrate the point: In certain villages bordering conflict young girls have admitted that armed men come in at night – these girls are used as sex workers – they are not allowed to protest – they are not allowed to lock their doors and the whole community tolerates this because these armed men protect the community – so it is a trade off. †¦Ã¢â‚¬  When sexual violence is used as a means of warfare or when women are pressurized to bear children as a means of supply of future soldiers, women become a very vulnerable gender to the violence of armed conflict. In conflict zones such as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, sexual violence was used as a means of ‘ethnic cleansing’. The Serbian police and paramilitary forces used rape to punish women belonging to the Kosovo Liberation Army (Human Rights Watch, 2000). Different Wars, Different Stages, Different Roles The different kinds of armed warfare, their different stages and the different roles that women play in these conflicts all have different effects on women. Modern armed conflicts are fought between adversaries that are very different from the conventional state armies. Terrorist groups and non-state players give armed conflicts a new dimension in the modern world. The problem with such combatants is that they do not adhere to international laws governing warfare and have no scruples in indulging in violence and atrocities that would fall in the category of war crimes. The Geneva Conventions and its protocols find no takers in them. They are not regulated by any authority and are guided either by their own perverted consciences or by fanatical ideologies. As a result women become more susceptible all kinds of violence from such elements in armed conflict. Armed conflicts usually pass through different stages viz. the pre-conflict stage or run up to the conflict, the conflict itself, the stage of conflict resolution or the peace process and the post conflict stage of reconstruction and reintegration. Each of these stages hold different horrors for women depending on the different roles that women play in such conflicts. Women act as agents of change when they participate in the prevention, resolution or management of armed conflicts. Their participation is very important because without them the views, needs and interests of half of the population go unrepresented. Conversely, women also act as agents of change when they indirectly support the men to take up arms for any cause which they may believe in. In the case of Rwanda, women were found to have been accomplices to and participants in gross acts of genocide (Lindsey, 2001). This indirect participation of women takes on added significance in their role as the primary influence on children. Women as mothers can influence children in many ways and mould them to serve as soldiers in armed conflicts. The simple act of women telling stories centered on sensitive issues of ethnic or clan conflicts could sensitize the children. Encouraging future generations to fight, may be considered as subtle participation of women in the armed conflicts as agents of change. Acting as agents of change is fraught with dangers because women often have to consciously take sides in their efforts to better the situation or to protect themselves and their families. They put themselves at risk in doing so. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) women of the South Kivu region were buried alive by people of their own villages because they were said to be witches. It was however found that they suffered their fate because the villagers suspected them of providing food and medicines to armed groups which the villagers did not support (Rehn & Sirleaf 2001). Women participate as active combatants in armed conflicts. â€Å"†¦the number of women who participate in fighting forces is increasing in nearly all conflicts. Women have constituted significant proportions of combatants and combat support operations in conflicts in Eritrea, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, and Rwanda † (USAID, 2007). As active combatants women face the same ravages of war as fighting men do. However, in many cases, women are abducted and forced to participate as combatants. The Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone made it a practice to raid villages and abduct children of both sexes to force them to join in the fighting. The abducted children were often raped, starved and drugged and then forced to kill. It has been the same in Uganda, Mozambique, Liberia and other war torn places. Women also get involved in the fighting as ‘followers’ of fighters. In such a role the woman does not carry arms but provide full and active support to the fighters. She acts as cook, domestic servant, sexual partner, guard or porter or all of these together. She may even be used as human shield in the fighting. It is not very difficult to imagine the trauma that she goes through in such roles. Women become victims and spoils of war. It is a very common practice of conquering forces to claim women of the defeated party as spoils of war. In an occupied land, women are also forced to curry sexual favors to the victorious forces for the sake of their own survival and the survival of their families. The fate of women is closely linked to the fate of their men. When men leave their homes to fight or die in the fighting, the women often becomes the primary bread winner of the family and has to take on additional role and responsibilities. This puts the woman in an entirely new social position, one that could even turn out to be advantageous but is more often than not a position that entails untold hardships on her. Left to fend alone for her family and herself, a woman could be driven to any extent and exploited easily under such circumstances. A woman usually finds herself in such a role in the post conflict stage of reconstruction and reintegration. Scars that do not heal Armed conflicts affect women physically, psychologically, economically, socially and even spiritually. They are more susceptible to violence than men because they are women. â€Å"Women are victims of unbelievably horrific atrocities and injustices in conflict situations; this is indisputable. As refugees, internally displaced persons, combatants, heads of household and community leaders, as activists and peace-builders, women and men experience conflict differently. Women rarely have the same resources, political rights, authority or control over their environment and needs that men do. In addition, their caretaking responsibilities limit their mobility and ability to protect themselves. † (Rehn & Sirleaf 2001). Gender Based Violence (GBV) can take many forms. Sexual violence in the form of rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, trafficking, genital mutilation and soliciting of sexual favors, as horrifying as they are, is only one aspect of the affect of war on women. Steep increase in domestic violence due to armed conflicts; the travails of displacement, forced or otherwise; the resultant adverse affects on health and increased exposure to infections and life-threatening diseases such as AIDS/HIV; the burden of additional social and economic responsibilities; and the lingering psychological, physical and social effects even after the end of hostilities are the multidimensional impacts of armed conflicts that are not quite as obvious, but devastating enough to merit closer scrutiny to understand their mechanism of operation. Sexual Violence and Physical Torture The continent of Africa is rife with armed conflicts. Many factors such as bad governance, illiteracy, deplorable economic conditions, political unrest and breakdown of social structures have contributed in fomenting armed struggles on unprecedented scales. Africa is a classic example of a society where the status of women as a subordinate and deprived class has added to their miseries during time so war. The majority of women in Africa is uneducated and live in abject isolation cut off even from all that is happening around them in politics and power play. They are therefore caught completely unawares when armed conflicts erupt. The subordination of women in Africa is accentuated in conflict situations. They are not only used as sexual objects who are to be humiliated and demeaned, but are also tortured and mutilated to deter them from carrying out stereotyped roles that are perceived to go against the interests of the perpetrators. During the documentation that has been carried out in Uganda, Liberia and Sierra Leone, women have testified that rebels cut off their lips, ears and nose giving various reasons for such acts (Ochieng, 2004). The same study also documents an instance in which a father was shot dead by enemy combatants when he refuse do have sexual intercourse with his daughter. The intention in this case was to inflict severe psychological torture on both the father and the daughter as incest is considered a blasphemy in Africa as in the rest of the world at large, and would leave permanent scars on the psyche of individuals and the society. Even when women participate as combatants on their own will, they are expected to submit to the sexual exploitations of their superiors. A United Nations document on the situation in Columbia states that â€Å"the situation of women and girls making part of illegal armed groups continues concerning the Council. Women and girl-combatants were objects of sexual abuse by their superiors in the hierarchy. † (Franco et. al. 2006). Abduction of women during armed conflicts is a practice that has its roots in deep in history. A well-known example is the large group of women who were labeled the ‘comfort women’ in the Far East during the Second World War. Things have not changed much. Only the scale, range and scope have. The sexual violence is not restricted to a particular stage of armed conflict but is widely prevalent in all the stages. If it is exploitation by the same side during the initial stage, the victorious lay their own claim on the womenfolk of the vanquished during the stage of active combat; this is followed by sexual exploitation of displaced women who go from place to place as refugees and are hounded sexually by a host of anti-social elements as well as those who are meant to protect and shelter them. This extends into the peace process and the reconstruction and reintegration stage when women ravaged and left helpless by the experience of war easily succumb to the lure of currying favors in exchange of sex. â€Å"Women are physically and economically forced or left with little choice but to become sex workers or to exchange sex for food, shelter, safe passage or other needs; their bodies become part of a barter system, a form of exchange that buys the necessities of life. † (Rehn & Sirleaf 2001). There have been reports of the situation being attenuated by the arrival of peacekeeping forces when personnel from these forces also indulge in sexually exploiting women in return for food, security, shelter, employment and other favors. The independent study commissioned by the United Nations Development Fund for Women were told by members of the local community in the Kisangani and Goma regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo that peace keepers having sex with local girls and that condoms were lying visibly scattered just outside the UN compounds. It was however the desperate women who took the initiative for such sexual liaisons. Trafficking is another adverse affect that is closely associated with armed conflict. Countries with armed conflict are ideal breeding grounds for trafficking because breakdown in law and order and reduced border controls and policing. Criminal networks of arms and drug dealers that operate in war torn countries easily double up as traffickers in women. The women are taken out to work in illegal factories, as slaves or as prostitutes in brothels in red light areas. Rise in armed conflicts have triggered a simultaneous rise in trafficking throughout the world. Trafficking worldwide grew almost 50 per cent from 1995 to 2000 (Financial Times, March 19, 2001), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that as many as 2 million women are trafficked across borders annually. A survey conducted in Cambodia in 1995 revealed that about 31 per cent of the prostitutes in Phnom Penh and 11 other provinces were between the ages of 12 and 17, and had been trafficked out of the conflict-stricken countryside (Human Rights Task Force on Cambodia, 1996). Trafficking in women has assumed alarming proportions in Columbia due to the civil war which has dragged on for decades in the country. It is estimated that around 50,000 women are trafficked out of Columbia every year. Bosnia and Herzegovina in south-east Europe also experience very high trafficking in women due to the same basic reason. Traffickers lure women out of these areas on the pretext of giving them jobs. They are then forced into sexual slavery. The traffickers take away the travel documents of the women so that they are not able to escape. Once they are in the trap it is very difficult for these women to return home to their societies even if they are rescued. Though many family in the war torn countries are desperate enough not to question where the money their daughters send home comes from, they will also not accept the women back if they come to know that they had been working as prostitutes or sex slaves. As a result, the girls go through multiple traumas: first they are separated from home, thereafter they are sexually exploited and brutalized and finally they face rejection from their own families. Trafficking is a vicious trap that leads the women who fall prey to it to ultimate destruction unless there is institutional intervention. Since armed conflict and trafficking go hand in hand, women in trouble-torn regions are always vulnerable to trafficking. Forced Displacement Forced Displacement is actually not an inevitable outcome of all armed conflicts, but it is frequently adopted as a strategy of war to destabilize enemy families and communities, to uproot the enemy so that it is scattered and weakened. Forced displacement is however a â€Å"the clearest violation of human, economic, political and social rights and of the failure to comply with international humanitarian laws† (Moser & Clark, 2001). Though displacement during armed conflict is viewed as a temporary process, examples in countries such as Sudan, Sri Lanka and Somalia show that it could extend into a prolonged affair, with succeeding generations having to stay away from the place of origin. Displacements can have multiple effects on women. For women displacement implies increased difficulties in managing household responsibilities as access to resources is cut off or becomes unavailable. Displacement has also been found to lead to a reversal in roles with women assuming the position of the head of the household. This is very evident in Sudan. Ethnic groups such as the Dinka, Nuer and Nuba have been displaced from their place of origin and face severe marginalization. The women of these communities take on added responsibilities of the missing men. Much of this added responsibility is transferred to younger members of the family, especially young girls. Young girls have to not only do domestic chores, but also look after the children, sick and the elderly. They lose out on valuable study and play time which affects their futures negatively. All displaced people face social exclusion, so do women. Staying in an alien environment without the usual support and protection from the male members of the family can be a very terrifying and psychologically scarring experience. In strife-torn Columbia, displacement has become a perennial problem. An estimated 40 million people have been forced to flee from their homes and seek sanctuary elsewhere. A whooping 80% of these displaced people are women and children (Security Council Report, 1999). This brings into sharp focus the high impact of displacement particularly on women. â€Å"The circumstances are unique in each country, but the stories are similar. In places such as Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Chechnya, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), East Timor, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and in the occupied Palestinian territories – whose people constitute the longest-standing and largest refugee population – women have been forced from their homes and exposed to indiscriminate violence while searching for a safe haven. † (Rehn & Sirleaf 2001). Displaced people face violence and hardship as they search for a safe haven. Women are especially vulnerable in such a situation. While on the run, and even after they have found refuge, women have to suffer the humiliation of rape and other forms of physical violence. In their constant struggle to provide for their families and themselves, they are forced to sell their bodies in exchange of provisions and favours. Again, displacement can be of two types: the refugee who has left the country of origin and crossed international borders, and the Internally Displaced Person or the IDP who has been forced to leave the place of original residence and has moved to a different part or region within the country. While international laws do provide some amount of protection and security to the refugee, such laws are not applicable in case of the IDP. The IDP therefore faces a plight worse than the refugee and is practically left all alone in the fight for survival. Even in the case of the refugee, a lot depends on the willingness of those in power in the host country to allow international agencies to aid or help the refugees. In many cases, armed opposition groups may refuse to provide access to international agencies fearing that their own human rights violations will be exposed. Forced displacement however has some positive effects too for women. When the displaced women takes over the reins of the household, many of the traditional shackles lose their hold on them and they find new avenues for self development and progress. They gain a sense of liberty that they did not have in their conventional male-dominated societies. Displacement also becomes a boon for women when they find refuse in well-established and properly run care centers which provide them adequate training and education to enable them to stand on their own feet. When this happens, the suppressed woman can break free and find her own moorings. Domestic Violence during Conflict That domestic violence increases proportionately with increase in armed conflict is a fact that had not been known until very recently. Conflict attenuates domestic violence in two ways: by breaking down communities and the natural regulatory functions of communities, and by escalating violence in the context of masculine and militarized conflict situations. Conflict leads to imbalances in power relations which in turn escalates domestic violence. Many things contribute to the increase in domestic violence – the availability of weapons, the violence male family members have experienced or meted out, the lack of jobs, shelter, and basic services (Lindsey, 2002). In a conflict situation, men get used to violence either by suffering violence or meting violence to others. This sort of acclimatizes them and makes them more prone to the use of violence. The experience of war changes some man from within so that they do not hesitate to apply violence in the domestic context. Combatants who return home after spending long years in fighting have been found to find it difficult to adjust to peace time. There have been instances when men returning form war have killed their own wives. Studies in Cambodia in the mid-1990s indicated that many women – as many as 75 per cent in one study – were victims of domestic violence, often at the hands of men who have kept the small arms and light weapons they used during the war (Lutz & Elliston, 2002). In the Middle East too, there have been reports of men returning from fighting and using the same tactics of torture used in war on their wives in glaring cases of domestic violence. Israel responded to the second Intifada by imposing restrictions on the movement of Palestinians. This led to unemployment, frustration and overcrowded living conditions. The release has been noticed in the form of increased domestic violence within families, crimes against women within the family. Women were being raped and tortured by the frustrated men. The problem in the case of domestic violence is that there are very few laws to protect women from domestic. Even where such laws have been framed, they are not imposed, especially during periods of conflict. The United Nations itself has only recently woken up to the situation. War and Women’s health War has a profound negative effect on health. The direct impact is the casualties of war. Men and women die in large number in any armed conflict. In the event of continued armed struggles medical systems and facilities tend to break down. The expert’s independent report by Rehn & Sirleaf (2001) had this to report of the casualties of war: â€Å"In 2000 alone, conflict is estimated to have directly resulted in 310,000 deaths, with more than half taking place in sub-Saharan Africa. If the commonly held ratio is accurate – nine indirect deaths for every direct death caused by conflict – then approximately 2. 8 million people died in 2000 of some conflict-related cause. Arguably the figure is much higher. When the direct fatalities are estimated by age and sex, children and adolescents account for a significant proportion of the deaths. The highest mortality rates are among men aged 15 to 44, but a quarter of direct mortality is among women. The greatest number of deaths of women is among those aged 15 to 29; some 25,000 women in this age group died directly of conflict in 2000. The International Rescue Committee has estimated that between August 1998 and April 2001, there were 2. 5 million excess deaths (i. e. , above the number normally expected) in the five eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where armed groups have been fighting each other as well as attacking civilians. Only 350,000 of these deaths were directly caused by violence; the majority stemmed from disease and malnutrition. One in eight households had experienced at least one violent death; 40 per cent of these deaths were of women and children. There were more deaths than births in many of the areas studied and, in one area, 75 per cent of the children died before they reached the age of two. † The report speaks volume about the direct casualties that women suffer in armed conflicts. The indirect effects of armed conflicts on the health of women are perhaps more horrendous. The large scale rape and other sexual atrocities on women leaves them exposed to all forms of sexual diseases and infections including AIDS and HIV. Many women who manage to overcome the other travails of war have to finally accept defeat when they learn that they have contacted AIDS at the end of it. There have been instances, especially in the Rwandan armed conflicts when one ethnic community has deliberately tried to infect another ethnic community with AIDS. Epidemics break out in refugee camps claiming thousands of lives. Since the refugee camps house a larger number of women, they are affected the most. Women who have been raped or tortured suffer from mental problems. Unwanted pregnancies and adolescence pregnancies pose considerable threats to the health of women. In places such as Bosnia, Kosovar and Sierra Leone, women faced terrible dilemmas. Would they abort their unwanted babies or would they keep them? A majority of these women chose abortion because they feared rejection if they dared to keep the babies. In Sierra Lone, the matter becomes more complicated because abortions are declared illegal and it costs a lot of hard-earned money to have an abortion. All these have to be seen in the context of the conflict scenario when medical and health systems break down and there are acute shortages of medicines and trained medical personnel. Many women die at child birth due to lack of adequate care. Many babies die at birth leaving their mothers heartbroken. Provisions for Protection The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its protocols remain the best applicable laws for the protection of women. The customary of international humanitarian laws can also be applied for the protection of women in conditions of armed conflicts. In 1993 and 1994 the Security Council established two ad hoc international criminal tribunals; the first to prosecute serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia, and the second to prosecute similar violations as well as genocide in Rwanda. The statute of the International Criminal Code was adopted in July 1998. All laws include many common clauses that can be effectively used for the protection of women in armed conflicts. These include the clause of non discrimination by which the same protection is to be given both to men and women. The law lays down that both men and women are to be â€Å"treated humanely (†¦) without adverse distinction founded on sex †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Moreover specific protection for women are accorded by Article 14 of the Third Geneva Convention which makes it mandatory that â€Å"women †¦ be treated with all the regard due to their sex. † Considerations for the privacy of women are also taken into account by the laws, so are provisions for expectant mothers. The Human Rights and the Refugee Laws too cover other aspects of protection for women in situations of armed conflict. The crux of the matter however is that the laws are as good as the intentions of those who are responsible for implementing them. The international community has to join hands in taking up the cudgel for women caught up in horrifying situations such as armed conflicts, and they have to take enough women with them to provide the healing touch as representatives of those who have suffered the insufferable. Throughout the ages, women have shown remarkable resilience to the vagaries of armed conflict. It is one war they have to win at any cost.

Highway Administrator Paper

The administrator of the highway department was given a task to find a way to fill more potholes. This program to fill more potholes would decrease the number of complaints in the city and the number of damages to the residents' cars. To do this, the Highway Administrator implemented a goal-setting program, in hopes this would encourage the workers to fill more potholes. This program sets a standard for each crew to fill a certain amount of potholes per day, no matter the location of where the crew was working.The results will then be posted for all of the crews to observe and compare. As an incentive to fill the most potholes possible, the crew who filled the greatest amount of potholes each week was given a reward. I personally believe excellent results will be achieved since the Highway Administrator's plan follows the design of the goal setting theory. â€Å"Goal setting theory was based on the premise that much human action is purposeful, in that it is directed by conscious goa ls. † (Neil, 1994) A more updated definition of the Goal Setting Theory states that goals are the remarry drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort.This program is going to be successful since the goals to be met are specific, accompanied by feedback, and difficult, but accepted by the workers. These aspects of the program will increase the overall performance of the workers, meaning more potholes will be filled in the approved manner, therefore, decreasing the number of complaints in the city and damages to the residents' cars. Since the duties assigned to the workers are meant to help the community, it is safe to say that their Job performance is meaningful.The errors have a clear, spelled out Job description and a list of tasks they need to complete, in the order they need to complete them. With their specific Job description and the workers helping out the community, overall Job satisfaction will rise, increasing Job productivity. â€Å"Meaningful work and Job sa tisfaction are linked,† (Weir, 2013) and typically lead to overall life satisfaction. Goals set by the highway administrator's program were specific. The standard set by the highway administrator were that each crew was to fill 20% more potholes than they usually fill on a daily basis.This aspect of the goal is extremely efficient and specific which gives the workers a clear idea of what they need to do at work. If the goal were to simply â€Å"fill more potholes than you normally fill† than each crew could fill one more pothole than they normally do and still meet the goal, but this would probably not complete as much work done as fast as it needs to completed. This goal is also a clear standard because of the different working conditions each crew operates in. Asking each crew to fill five more potholes than normal might prove to be easy for one crew and extremely difficult for another, depending on the conditions.Each crew was also given a step-by-step sheet on how t o properly fill each pothole. This will create a filled pothole that will last longer, therefore, making less work for the future. The feedback that accompanies each goal comes at the end of each week. Feedback is objective information about performance. Motivational feedback serves as a reward and the highway administrator clearly understands that since he is using rewards to drive his employees' productivity. (Hogue, 2004) Each week, the highway administrator will post performance data on a board for all of the other crews to view.Since there are only rewards and no harsh consequences, this creates friendly competition for each crew. The crew who has the most potholes filled at the end of each week wins tickets to a sports game in their locality. Since there is an incentive involved with the weekly performance, the crews will work much harder in order to come first and win the reward. This will drive up the work performance significantly since the reward is something people know t hey will enjoy. Finally, the goals are official, yet accepted by the workers. It may not be easy at first to fill 20% more potholes than average.Once the crews realize the goals are difficult, yet not impossible, the intensity and persistence of the workers will maximize in order to be the best and finish the work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Each crew will work their hardest to fill many potholes as possible. The incentives come into play once again when it comes to the goal being difficult since each crew knows if they work harder, they will achieve more potholes than the other crews. It is also beneficial to he program that performance statistics aren't posted until the end of the week.If they were to post performance statistics every day, crews with lower performance may feel discouraged if they are not filling the most potholes, leading them to not work as hard as they may feel they don't have a chance. The highway administrator's goal setting program is meant to rai se productivity and I predict that is exactly what will happen. Since the goal setting program is based off of the goal setting theory, it needs to follow three important aspects to be successful. When the goals are specific, accompanied by feedback, and difficult, but accepted by employees, they increase the performance of the workers.These aspects serve as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort. â€Å"In order for an organization to be successful they must continuously ensure the satisfaction of their employees. † (Yip, Goldman, Martin, 2009) Taking the goal setting theory into consideration, the ultimate goal is for the goal setting program to be successful. When workers are satisfied with their Job and the work they've done, along with possible rewards they may have earned, they will intuition to work harder. This is mainly since work itself has a strong correlation with job satisfaction.If someone is not satisfied with the work they do, they may n ot want to work as hard or be as productive. Employees that like their work find it easy to work harder and strive for their best. They do this by setting personal goals for themselves, relating to work, and achieving them. Each crew may come up with team and individual strategies in order to employ every effort to fill the most potholes. This program will raise the workers' productivity by raising the workers' satisfaction. If I were the highway administrator, I would implement the same program with minor tweaks.Ultimately, I feel that this program will drive workers to increase productivity and fill more potholes. With this result and more potholes filled, complaints from the citizens and damages to their cars' will decrease immensely. This would improve the overall moral of the city if more potholes were filled. The reward aspect of this program is one of the most important parts. â€Å"A good reward system should foster personal growth and development and keep talented people f rom leaving† (Grittier, 1998). This program does Just that, which is why I agree with it and how it will affect the workflow.When individuals set goals for themselves as well as try to receive rewards that may be awarded to them, they grow as a person and do not want to leave due to Job satisfaction and potential rewards. This leads to affective commitment by the workers. Workers will stay with the organization because they want to, not because they feel obligated or need to due to their financial situation. The only aspect I would change about this program is the percentage of potholes that need to be filled. I would survey each crews work area and give them team goals to meet.Anything above that would be compared to the other teams and the crew who was most effective would receive the reward. Overall, the highway administrator's goal setting program will work effectively and serve it's purpose of filling more potholes to construct a better community environment.

Groups and Teams in the Contemporary Organizations Essay

Groups and Teams in the Contemporary Organizations - Essay Example It has also made the top management realize that if proper undertakings within these domains are made, there is no doubt that the groups and teams would bring in more success and higher profits. The only shortcoming, however, lies in the ideology that these groups and teams have a number of different problems, all of which will be mentioned within the length of this paper. This paper takes a concise look at how the groups and teams in the contemporary business world have played their quintessential role and what these roles have meant to the different business quarters, not to forget the grave issues which have surfaced for quite a period of time now. The groups and teams within the aegis of an organization have meant that the company accepts that shared efforts are important in order to have goals achieved and objectives accomplished, for the sake of the said company. This is a reality that has dawned upon the modern day organizations because these organizations have understood the ideology of team formation and how these can bring success for the sake of the whole company. The formation of teams within an organization signifies the need for a collective thought that can envision success domains within a short-term time period or a duration that is geared to meet the needs and challenges within the long run. However one thing is certain – the organization by now has understood the premise of having groups and teams within its aegis, which will essentially play a very solid role at convincing its own people that individual efforts are not worth and that groups and teams would bring about more sanity and be strengthening effects for the sake of the company.  

Racial Prejudice in the film Devil in a Blue Dress compared to Term Paper

Racial Prejudice in the film Devil in a Blue Dress compared to prejudice in today's society - Term Paper Example The relations of blacks and whites, the inequality prevailed in the society is presented in the movie. Corruption over Blacks, segregation, the Black image of the American Dream and the alienation suffered by blacks are portrayed in the movie. The story of the missing white woman who was last found at a black-only club presents the dark faces of race and racism. The movie presents the race-oriented life of the 1940s; racism and segregation were the accepted way of life during that period. In the movie we find that the skin color is not just a background issue, it is rather the core theme of the lives of the people of those times. Race was the first thing people notices. Racial discriminations could destroy marriages, break careers and end lives. The movie brings before the viewers the black life in Los Angeles. The disadvantaged life of the blacks is watched from the perspective of the 1940s and 1960s. This picture can be very much paralleled to the lives of the blacks in the 1990s. The movie is relevant even in the present world. Segregation is not uncommon in the United States in the modern world also. Prejudice and stereotyping is common in almost all societies. Multicultural societies are under the curse of prejudice and discrimination. Considering the United States as an example we can find that prejudice is the most crucial feature of the society. It is nothing but prejudice that has caused discrimination, oppression and tensions among various racial and ethnic classes in the United States. Prejudice results in racial profiling, alienation, housing segregation, dangerous ethnic jokes and various other problems. Prejudice demolishes all types of fellowships. No relationship would abide in the presence of prejudice. Prejudice reflects segregation, and it has completely blocked the progress of the nation. This strange racial prejudice has resulted into an isolated, ill developed and racially segregated society that has encouraged racial mistrust, senseless c onflicts and other discriminations that prevents the society from obtaining true racial equality. Prejudice hinders cooperation and mutual respect and destroys relationships. Prejudice dissolves the good relationship between people of different race, ethnicity and nationality. Racial prejudice and segregation has resulted in systemic inequalities that stand as a barrier to the development (of the whole society) and personal improvement of individuals. Prejudice has contributed for the widening of the socio-economic gap between superior group (whites) and the minorities (blacks). The racism found in the movie Devil in a Blue Dress  is prevalent in the modern society of the United States. There are various practices that humiliate and trouble the negatively privileged blacks and women in America, for example racial profiling. Thousands of complaints from the victims of various ethnic groups have proved that racial profiling is a real happening. Victims of racial profiling are not on ly common people but also famous and rich people, celebrities, sports stars and people from all walks of life. There were cases when respected members of the society, like judges, lawyers, state legislators, and even representatives claimed that they were victims of racial profiling. This discriminatory stopping and checking by the police is disturbing thousands of pedestrians, innocent drivers, and shoppers and other helpless people across the nation. ‘War on Drugs’ as well as ‘War on Terror’

Spanish-American War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Spanish-American War - Research Paper Example The war went smoothly for the Americans and proved devastating for the Spanish, which suffered defeat continuously. Although several drawbacks have been observed in the American military preparedness for this war, the same has been classified as â€Å"splendid war of short duration† by historians, even from outside America. Historian Harry Allen has described this event as â€Å"America’s swift and total defeat of Spain†(1). Due to lack of coordination between different wings of American defense forces, rivalry was visible between sailors and soldiers, while the war resulted in the charges of imperialism being levied against America, which still haunts the people of Cuba and Philippines. Michael Quinn, the author of this article has detailed the impact of this war on West Americans. According to Mormon theology, the church had a right to choose for participating or non-participating in an armed conflict, which the author refers as â€Å"selective Pacifism’. While Mormon Church lost its political and social power with the abolition of polygamy by the federal government in 1890, the option of selective pacifism became inapplicable in 1989, as a result of internal conflict within the Mormon Church on the participation issue. While â€Å"book of Mormon† has the evidences of pacifism, the internal conflict has been visible with one group refusing to participate in such defensive wars, based on religious and spiritual reasons.(1) Joseph Smith Jr discussed the theological aspects of pacifism, while proposing three essentials, which concern the Mormon participation in a war. These included the participating decision to be independent of secular government options, the Divine injunctions of war and peace being conveyed through a Mormon prophet, instead of any secular leader and the commands of the prophet to be given due respect in deciding on issues

Develop an ethics program for a company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Develop an ethics program for a company - Essay Example s regard, the government also puts in considerable amounts as donations to the non-profits that help the government in rendering public services and other socially-relevant works. There are many issues involved when doing non-profit work but foremost among them is the proper and accurate handling of donated funds. This means there should be proper accounting and audits of where the funds were spent and whether these funds achieved their intended purpose. When government funds are involved, then more reason for a consultancy firm to have a code of ethics adopted as early as possible. This should ideally be put in place before any of the criticisms from various stakeholders get loud enough (especially coming from politicians) to severely impede the effectiveness of these non-profit organizations to do their work. It can only mean the consultants will not deal with non-profits which have questionable dealings and other activities which do not jive with their stated public service mandate. There are practical and great reasons why a code of ethics should be put in place and primary among the reasons is that it is very easy to misrepresent the organization in the name of supporters, donors or the beneficiaries (Horton & Roche, 2010, p. 79). If funds are misused, credibility suffers. Management consultants follow their own code of conduct when dealing with clients. In particular, a consultancy firm that deals mostly with non-profit organizations which derive their funding mostly from government donations must pay close attention to how these funds were obtained from the donating government agency and how proper the disbursements were. This paper talks on the broader responsibilities of management consultants and will discuss on the ethical aspects of providing consultancy services to government-funded non-profit groups. My three-member company will adopt a code of ethics built along the following line, namely: Client Services – all employees of the consultancy

FDI in Sudan agriculture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

FDI in Sudan agriculture - Research Paper Example However, in subsidiaries, more than 50% of the voting rights must be controlled by the parent company. Foreign direct investment in which the parent enterprise cannot exercise control over the affiliate enterprise is basically termed as a portfolio investment (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2009, pg 17). Moreover, FSI stimulates economic growth in host countries of the affiliate companies. Host countries therefore undertake to attract foreign investors by introducing tax breaks, specific grants and incentives, investment regulation relaxation and enforcing low interest rates on loans to foreign investors. Foreign Direct Investment in Developing countries, Africa and Sudan Foreign direct investment has in the past few years grown considerably, particularly in developing countries’ agricultural sector. Foreign investors view developing countries to have exceptional potential of economic growth. Primarily, multinational companies have significantly increa sed foreign investments in developing countries because of the competitive advantage in their investments. Currently, foreign direct investment in developing countries constitutes sixty one percent of total foreign investments. ... In a move to promote foreign investment in agricultural sector, African governments have undertaken structural adjustment and liberalization of policies to sourcing and marketing inputs and outputs of agriculture both locally and internationally. The governments have also introduced export-processing zones in targeting foreign investors in the agricultural sector (Basu, et al, 2002, pg 12). FDI and Development: Review of the literature Forms of International Investment in Developing Countries International investors may enter foreign markets through trade, foreign direct investment, or international licensing of technology and intellectual property such as copyrights and patents. Each of the above forms is characterized by different levels of involvement, managerial requirements, and commitment in a foreign market (Schaffer, Agusti, and Earle, 2008, pg 6). Trade in foreign markets usually has the least political and legal risks due to its limited involvement in the foreign economy es pecially in the case where a transnational corporation is maintaining sales agents over seas. Trade is used by investors to import items not readily available in the country and export items that are in plenty or not needed. In addition, foreign governments may regulate trade by enacting laws, policies, and import duties. Licensing of technology and intellectual property are substantial assets with legal rights to artistic or written works, name and government grants owned by domestic and international firms. Lastly, foreign direct investment refers to ownership and active control of productive assets by an investor in a foreign country with the expectation of making profits both in the short run and in the long run. Land and environmental

Analyzing a building or architecture based on several questions, see Essay

Analyzing a building or architecture based on several questions, see them in the uploaded file - Essay Example The size of the arena is estimated by the seating arrangement which is 5,110 permanent seats with 7,610 moveable chairs. Dorton Arena is opened to various patrons or clients across a diversity of the world. For instance, in the earlier days it was a residence of various sports teams and presently is the residence of the Caroline Rollergirls Its plan constituents steel, cast iron, parabolic arches, ground and tiers underneath rigid chairs are concrete. The support-hanging roof is a grooved metal decking enclosed with a bonded ceiling cover, while the edge columns are concrete-encased steel. Windows are steel framed with painted, glare-reducing glass. Therefore the materials used widely for construction are steel and concrete. The purpose of the building was for multi-use but the initial intention was to be just a domestic animals exhibition area and later, in the finishing point, still, it was approved extended use, showing the current necessitate for flexibility in the plan of intern al venues. For example it was a perfect place for business shows, graduations, sporty events, circuses, speakers, and other special events. In addition to above events, the arena is also used for concerts during the North Carolina State Fair. ... It is therefore a multipurpose building. In view of the fact that the building is multipurpose, it serves several people in the world who are in different sector of production. Furthermore, it is at the interest of the North Carolina especially in the following sectors; farming, production, business and education The building’s function influences its design in that, the literary & aesthetic value of the building completely compliments the wants of the functions taking place indoors, in the view that the tent-like, weigh down formed roof measures the original use of extra bent delay form in a structural design. In this case, the tiered seating of the ground and the line of the roof increase in equivalent. Comparing to other buildings that serve the same purpose, Dorton Arena is the most likeable structure because of its services that it provides. Thus, agriculture, industry, and commerce but it has seen a mixture of other functions. In the 1970’s it hosted the American Basketball Association’s Carolina, Raleigh Ice Caps, a minor league hockey team, called Dorton its home from 1991 to 199. It is also specious and therefore accommodates many people than other buildings. It is again influencetial to the future designs. For instance, in 1957, the American organization of Architects acknowledged the arena as one of the top best structure most anticipated to persuade the expectations of American architecture. It was listed as a state famous headstone in 1972 and The National Park Service says the structure has been highly praised globally for its modern blending of design and engineering. It’s two-twisted parabolic arch plan, edge hold columns, and wire structure provides a clear view from anywhere indoors and the building's

Philosophical discussion with a film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Philosophical discussion with a film - Essay Example The creation of an ideal superman and the philosophy of fighting for the good fo all and even killing for the same despite all personal feelings comprise the final theme of the movie. The ending might be controversial in some respects but the paper will defend his actions apart from relating my personal feelings regarding the same. The superman shows us a controversial philosophy of dealing with injustice with a bold face and taking the toughest decision of killing for good. The very concept behind the creation of a superman lies in something greater than human. But greater than human in what way is the main concern, i.e. should a superman be born with a bigger and wiser outlook towards life? Do we want to see him as more physically powerful than normal human beings or more psychological strong or be extremely benevolent and kind hearted which we are not capable of. We see a superman in our eyes and in our ways. My idea of a superman is someone who is extremely powerful and can easil y kill but will not kill and show his power unnecessarily. The provocation to show his power should be extremely strong in order to actually pour out his strength and go for a killing. Here the superman fits this criteria perfectly well and kills for a reason bigger than personal benefit. So here the superman is kind hearted and shows personal feelings for the loss like other human beings but he knows what is good for the world and does exactly that without being concerned about his personal gains. It is important to give ample chance to the victim for rectifying his mistakes and the superhero did the same too unlike he ormal state laws where a criminal is arrested and might be shot down without giving a fair chance for correction. So he is above the conventions and reason of human law. At this point I believe the Man of Steel satisfies the audience psychologically in being the super hero. A true hero whom people can idolize and worship and most importantly learn from under similar circumstances. This summer we got the pleasure to satisfy our fantasy instinct through the hero of the superheroes none other than Superman. Though the title Man of Steel nowhere reflects any indications of Superman in it, but the title itself re-boots the idea of the mystery and re-imagination of the background within it. This movie is the idea of a new version of the ever imaginative Superman story. Director Zack Synder tried to unfold his imagination which audience wants to see in their real life. Now there are several questions which has been arrived. Critics have various points to rate a film. This gets a first critical view in the aspect that it shows superman in a totally different aspect. The major critic that took place is that superman here is very serious, conservative, always frustrated, chiseled and handsome but not interested in any kind of romantic affairs. He is always trying to defend the planet earth from the evil eyes of Krypton another imaginary planet from where actually superman belongs to. But as he became the son of the earth and got attached with the upbringing atmosphere he now took this as a duty to protect earth from any bad force. Many critics have complained about the movie that the movie has too much action which was not actually required. But according to my point of view I will say that though it was full of action but the use of the plot was good and effective. This is because I think the director wanted to

Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Statistics Project Example Therefore, financial status and depression are critical factors in determining well-being of individual hence appropriate measures to the report. The frequency histogram shows an almost normally distributed curve. However, the explicit results show a negatively skewed distribution. The frequency for males is more than that of the female gender. This shows that more males suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as compared to male. The number of people that experience from post-traumatic disorder-from the sample-are 230. Out of the 230, 130 are males while 100 are females as per the histogram. The distribution of subjective class identification closely matches the normal curve. This shows that 68% of the observations fall within one standard deviation of the mean 2.39. On the other hand, 99.7% of the observations fall within 3 standard deviation of the mean. The normal Q-Q plots also confirms the normal distribution of the subjective class identification. The confidence interval for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is 12.35 and 14.73 for lower bound and upper bound respectively. This means that we are 95% confident that the true mean of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is between 12.35 and 14.74. The corresponding ÃŽ ±=0.05. When testing for normality, the normality table and the normal Q-Q plots become important as the numerical and graphical methods respectively. The normality table represents the result for Shapiro-Wilk Test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test. In this case, we will use Shapiro-Wilk Test because the data is less than 2000. The sig. value (0.000) of the Shapiro-Wilk Test is less than 0.05 hence the data is not normally distributed. The data significantly deviate from a normal distribution. We have also used the Q-Q plot to determine normality graphically. The data points stray from the line in a non-linear fashion hence the data is not normally distributed. To correct the distribution of age of the respondents, I have

Late Adulthood Paper Essay Example for Free

Late Adulthood Paper Essay People over the age of 65 have gone through a life of changes. He or she starts off as a young baby. He or she then develops into a growing child. into a young individual, and finally into a full adult. Now however is the hardest stage of any older individual’s life, they start to realize that time is limited and their life is slowly starting to decline and come to an end. This experience can be very frightening to the individual because the elderly person is noticing different changes and the rise of different needs. Changes not only physically but socially are occurring, the need for proper living accommodations, and health care are their new worries. With this being said there are many challenges not only for the aging individual but for the whole family as well. One of the social changes that elderly have to deal with is the changes in role and social position. Individuals who have lived a long life tend to have a social status that is often taken away when they retire. This is due to the fact that the individual is no longer in the environment he or she is used to. To make this clearer one example would be someone who has worked for a company for thirty plus years. In these years the individual most likely has made countless friends, on top of that the individual might have been in position of authority. When the individual retires he or she loses the environment that made him the individual he or she was. Some adults go into a shock because they no longer have a purpose. Some feel like they are no longer needed, and often many older people tend to feel neglected or left out of society (Zastrow, H. C., Oren, D.2009). It is a difficult time for the elderly. Because before they were needed, they had a purpose. Raised children, had a purpose in their career, and often had friends and peers that made their social life exciting. With these last remaining years this all starts to fade away, friends, family, a loved one, and even their own health. This i s why living in a nursing home can be so beneficial. It is expected by the year 2050, that there will be just over one hundred million adults over the age of  sixty five (‘Administration of Aging’, 2014). Currently there are just over twenty million adults of the age of sixty five years of age. What this means is that the need for facilities such as hospices and nursing homes, as well as other health care related facilities will be on a rise as the years continue. Living accommodations in a nursing home may not be a farfetched idea for an elderly individual. This is because nursing homes have individuals just like their own. One reason most senior citizens get depressed is because they are often left alone, let us say their partner had passed away, most senior citizens withdraw from the world too. (2009). Nursing homes may allow new friendships and bonds to be formed with people in their own age group. A nursing home or hospice is the perfect environment for an aging individual not only for the social aspect, but the health aspects as well. When an elderly adult lives alone his or her health will often be highly neglected. In a nursing or hospice home however, there are many great hea lth benefits to take into consideration. According to Dependableathome (2009) the benefits of having an elderly adult in a nursing home is because of the environment is made for retired individuals. For one the nurses are all skilled, and highly equipped to handle aged individuals. These facilities allow for individuals to get services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language services, as well as many other medical and social services that can ensure that the individual’s needs are met as best as possible. These are all benefits to an individual that went through adjustment in both retirement and their relationship in marriage, family and peer relationships. Adjustments into retirement can be difficult to overcome; retirement is one of the hardest situations to adjust to. When a person retires, he or she realizes that their life is starting to come down. Often most individuals do not know what to do with their self. Often for most people it takes a while for them to adjust to being home all day Zastrow, H. C., Oren, D. (2009). They often try to find projects to do around the house but after a while a form of depression kicks in. Another transition they must face is their changes in marriage, their family, and their peer relationships. Often sooner or later a spouse will die, peers will start to die, and family starts to drift off. This is an inevitable process. When a spouse dies the individual usually withdraws from society. When peers start to die it is a bittersweet  remembrance that their time is limited and the people they connected with in the past are no longer here. Family like children are full grown and living their own lives, this often neglects the older adult and is usually left alone to spend his or her remaining years by him or herself. Senior citizens not only deal with these types of hardships but social political hardships as well. Adults who are retired have a tough task at hand indeed. Individuals who once were working no longer have near the income that they once had. Most retired adults made poor choices as into how to set an up a retirement plan. Thus most retired adults only have so cial security income. Surviving on social security income alone is nearly impossible.Thus there are many social policies, laws and programs aimed into trying to help our retired population. Proper health care is one of the policies trying to be ensured to each retired adult. Proper health care will allow for one’s parent to be ensured into a proper nursing home. According to Administration of Aging. (2014), political issues that surround retired adults, include equipped and ensuring the proper resources are available to retired adults. These resources include proper medical care. Proper institutions such as nursing homes are available in the right areas and environment, and to make sure the low income retired adults are getting the nutrition he or she needs. There are also plenty of organizations aimed to ensure and to fight potential cuts to the older population to ensure that these populations get what they rightfully deserve.(2014). On a final note, in our growing population the need for facilities such as hospices, and nursing homes are on all time rises. With this growing population many families have to deal with the inevitable loss of a loved one. This inevitable lose can be a very tough, and challenging time for any family. For families a nursing home may be a perfect solution to help a family member in his or her last phase, or journey if one may in life. For with this growing population there are many different needs and factors that contribute in the later adulthood stage. Well obvious needs and changes are biological some needs are not so obvious; such changing needs both occur in social needs, and personality needs as well. Whatever the need may be it is important to take into consideration of each and every one of these retired individual are needs. Each one of these people have helped contribute in some sort of way into the growth of our country and we as a country need to  ensure that these people are getting the proper care they deserve. References Administration of Aging. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.aoa.gov/Aging_Statistics/future_growth/future_growth.aspx Dependableathome. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.dependableathome.com/ Zastrow, H. C., Oren, D. (2009). Understanding Human Behavior and the Social environment (8th Ed.). Retrieved from the University of Phoenix EBook Collection Database

Habitat and Animals Essay Example for Free

Habitat and Animals Essay Little care or thought was given to wildlife, or the delicate nature of their habitat as Urban Sprawl moved along with the progress of the times. This is supported by the opinion offered by Authors Emel and Wolch, in their book titled Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity’, They state that The 1980s cost of sprawl debate made no mention of wildlife habitat, and the adherents to the so called new urbanism and sustainable cities movements of the 1990s rarely define sustainability in relation to the animals†(5). Quoting statistics researched, compiled, and available at Smart Growth America.com, Authors Hapke, Goodwin, Pulsipher and Pulsipher state that In the United States Urban Sprawl eats up 2 acres a minute- A million acres a year- including 400,000 acres of land that is especially well suited for high quality specialty crops. Urban Sprawl is now an issue in virtually all parts of North America† (6). Quoting Vitousek (1997) and Marzluff and Hamel (2001), authors Johnson and Klemens explain that the destruction of animal habitat occurs because Humans alter the earths natural landscape in three main ways: Through agriculture, natural resource extraction, and urban and rural settlement (7) . There is immediate habitat loss as an area is developed, as noted almost one million acres per year are consumed. As humans take over and develop, the wildlife is displaced, and deprived of the habitat because it has been converted for use, and is no longer suitable to sustain life. Pollution, and the introduction of non indigenous invasive plant species enter the habitat as well, after humans move in to an area. (5) Emel Jody, Wolch Jennifer. Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-culture Borderlands, Edition: illustrated, Published by Verso, 1998, p. 132. (6) Hapke Holly M, Goodwin Conrad Mac, Pulsipher Lydia Mihelic, Pulsipher Alex. World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives. Edition: 3, illustrated, Published by Macmillan, 2005. p. 81. (7) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 19. 3 Many researchers agree with author John Kistler that â€Å" Habitat loss is the single most important factor in the destruction of wild species†(8). Imagine developers go in with big bulldozers, and dump trucks, and destroy the natural landscape without a thought to the population of animals that will be displaced. Without concerns about rare plant and animal species that may be at risk of extinction. It used to be as man moved in, the animals would move out, to nearby untouched areas with sufficient forage and water to survive. Johnson and Klemens point out that today However, as sprawl converts more land to development, there are few or no adjacent undeveloped lands to meet these needs(9). Now a drive along highways that pass close to any major development sites that are currently under construction, will reveal the fate of many of the dislocated inhabitants. Dead deer, coyotes, fox, racoons, hawks, and a multitude of other species are strewn along the roadside daily. Quoting Clevenger and (2001) and Forman (2003), in a paper prepared by professor Michael Starr, and students at Southern Illinois University, attempting to compile data on road kill occurrences states that It is undoubtedly true that the number of road-killed animals has been increasing through the years until the last decade, very few scientific studies had been conducted to assess this assumption(10). Based on data compiled by reported accidents with cars, and quoting Forman (2003), The SIUE paper stated that â€Å" It has been conservatively estimated that 1 million deer alone are killed each year on the nations roads†(11). These numbers are reported road kills involving car damage, the numbers of smaller species no doubt are astronomical, if a number could be assigned. (8) Kistler John. Animal Rights: A Subject Guide, Bibliography, and Internet Companion Edition: illustrated, Published by Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p 145. (9) Johnson Elizabeth Ann. Klemens Michael W. Nature in Fragments: The Legacy of Sprawl. Edition: illustrated, Published by Columbia University Press, 2005. p. 30. (10) (11) Starr Michael J. Surveying For Small Road-Killed Animals Along Rural Roads And State Highways http://www. siue. edu/GEOGRAPHY/RoadKill. htm. SIUE Department of Geography. Feb. 2006. 4 States with most population growth had largest permanent loss of rural land Average low-population-growth state lost less than a third the rural land as average high-population growth state http://www. sprawlcity. org/charts_usda/us_6. html

Verbal And Nonverbal Communication English Language Essay

Verbal And Nonverbal Communication English Language Essay Introduction The communication process made of  a message being sent and perceived by the others. The message may be verbal or non-verbal. Communication means talking, making friends, interacting with people, having relationships either private life relationships or work related. Communicating with others is essential in leading a normal life. We all communicate in our own way but we need to learn how to do it effectively. Communication has two types, there is verbal communication and non verbal communication. The verbal is includes oral communication mean that through words and writing. Example, a lecturer writing at the whiteboard and speaking at the class, and the students are writing what the lecturer spoke out and read what lecturer wrote out. Second, non-verbal communication is without words mean that is expressive behaviors and body language/body signal. Examples, a boy kiss a girl to show the girl that he love her. The communication process is the guide toward realizing effective commun ication. It is through the communication process that the sharing of a common meaning between the sender and the receiver takes place. Individuals that follow the communication process will have the opportunity to become more productive in every aspect of their profession. Effective communication leads to understanding. The communication process is made up of four key components. Those components include encoding, medium of transmission, decoding, and feedback. There are also two other factors in the process, and those two factors are present in the form of the sender and the receiver. The communication process begins with the sender and ends with the receiver. When encoding a message, the sender has to begin by deciding what he/she wants to transmit. This decision by the sender is based on what he/she believes about the receivers knowledge and assumptions, along with what additional information he/she wants the receiver to have. It is important for the sender to use symbols that ar e familiar to the intended receiver. A good way for the sender to improve encoding their message, is to mentally visualize the communication from the receivers point of view. 1.1Types of Communication Communication can occur via various processes and methods and depending on the channel used and the style of communication there can be various types of communication. 1.1.1 Verbal communication Verbal communication is divided into written and oral communication. The oral communication refers to speaking words in the communication process. Oral communication can be face-to-face communication or a conversation over the phone or on the Messenger chat over the Internet. Spoken conversations or dialogs are affecting by voice modulation, volume and even the speed and clarity of speaking. The Another type of verbal communication is written communication. Written communication can be via letters, newspaper, mail, or email. The effectiveness of written communication depends on the style of writing, grammar, vocabulary used, clarity and precision of language. Below are some types of verbal communication: Types of verbal communication -speaking and writing -reading and listening Face to face discussions Telephone conversations 1.1.2 Non-verbal communication Non-verbal communication is includes the body language or expressive behaviors of the person who is doing, which will include the body posture, overall body movements, and the hand gestures. The facial expressions are also play a major role while communication since the expressions on a persons face say a lot about his/her mood. On the other hand gestures like a handshake, wave hand to say hello or goodbye, a smile or a hug can independently convey emotions. Another example, a person want to show uncertainty will make some ehhà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ahhà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ermm sounds to mean that are not sure. Non verbal communication can also be in the form of pictorial representations, signboards, or even photographs, sketches and paintings. Types of non verbal -facial expression and eye behavior -gestures and postures -vocal characteristic -personal appearance -touching behavior -use of time and space Verbal communication also includes the written word. Written includes emails, books, letters, magazines, newspapers, notes, faxes, announcements, commercials etc. Anything that is written is also verbal communication. Oral communication has also besides real words, mere grunts, cries, whimpers that people make. Each sound we make can be interpreted and seen as a certain language. Communicating with others is done more easy and it`s more easy also to understand if the two people speak the same language. 1.2 Process of Communication Channel Medium Receivers send feedback to sender Sender has an idea1 6 Sender transform idea into message Receiver interprets message Speaking Verbal 2 5 Receiver gets message Sender transmit message Writing Non-Verbal 3 4 1.3 How does one ensure that the intended audience has received the right message? Communication is a two way process. It needs to have a sender, a receiver and a message. In order to have a successful ensure that the intended audience has received the right message, we need to send the message clearly. The key to a great communication understands each other. We should know that when communicating, there might appear some barriers. Below are some of barriers of communication: Between people 1) Difference in perception 2) Incorrect filtering 3) Language problems 4) Poor listening 5) Different emotional states 6) Different background 7) Misunderstandings Within organization 1) Information overload 2) Message complexity 3) Message competition 4) Lack of trust 5) Inadequate communication structure Very important when communicating to also listen to what the other person is saying. Communicating can be through body language, through signs or through visual representations. People have found many ways to communicate. The second most important way to communicate is through body language. The way we move our body and the mimics we make sends also a message, that`s why we should learn how to control our body language. Below is some way to ensure that the intended audience has received the right message: Sending the  Message There are four  elements involved  in  sending  a  message.  First,  as  the sender, formulate the  message intend to communicate. Next, consider  possible barriers  that may affect the message. This  includes experience,  the term  will  use  and  even feeling toward the subject  or  the audience. External  barriers  such  as  noise  must  also be considered. Third, encode  the message, you put  the  message into the  words you want to use. Last,  clearly communicate  (send) the message. Receiving The Message, there  are  also  four  elements  involved  in receiving a  message. The audience (receivers)  will first hear and/or see the message you sent. Second,  the message is  affected  by external barriers, if any, and  the audience own internal barriers.  Possible  internal barriers may  include  the audience experience  level,  their understanding of  the  terms used, their attitu de toward  the material,  or the way  they feel about you. Third, the audience decodes  the  message through the use of mental images. For instance, when you say the word  circus, the receiver does  not see the  letters that  form the word. Instead,  a mental  image  of some sort appears.  Fourth, the audience interpret the message.  Clearly,  at this  point in the process there  is  no  way  for you to determine that  all of the audience received the message you intended.   To determine this, you must get feedback. Feedback Feedback, which may take several  forms, provides essential information about your success in communicating the message.   To get feedback, have the audience respond to oral questions and  encourage  them  to ask questions.  The audience  non-verbal  behaviors also  provide important clues  as  to  their  understanding  of  the  material. Facial expressions and body movements  often  indicate  when  audiences are  unsure  about  the  meaning  of  your message.   Ã‚  You should  be careful in accepting a yes response  when you ask Do you understand? Obtain meaningful  feedback by  asking questions  that  require  the audience to  provide  answer which indicate that they in fact  do understand exactly  what  you  intended. Listening Listening is one of our most important communication skills.  It   is   an   active   process   of hearing   and   understanding   that   demands   concentration   and   attention.   Both you and your audience have responsibilities in the communication process. You must ensure that  the learning environment is free of distractions that might interfere with the audience ability  to listen. Be alert to the non-verbal behaviors of your audience. Facial expressions  reveal  much  of what is  happening  in  the mind  of  a  audience. A quizzical look indicates some misunderstanding has occurred or  a question needs  to  be  addressed.  An audience leaning slightly forward and maintaining good eye contact  with  you  is probably interested and sincere about  learning. Raised hands and relevant questions  are sure signs that you are communicating effectively. Learn to determine if audiences are   Ã‚  listening  by the type of  feedback they  provide. Effective   Ã‚  listening depends on motivation, and you are the prime motivator in your classroom. Audience  should  arrive  for instruction ready to  learn. They should participate and ask questions as they  arise.  Audience must  understand  that they  have  responsibility for their own learning. This requires active listening on their part. 1.4 Conclusion Communication is a two way process. It needs to have a sender, a receiver and a message. In order to have a successful ensure that the intended audience has received the right message, we need to send the message clearly. The key to a great communication understands each other. We should know that when communicating, there might appear some barriers. The communication process made of  a message being sent and perceived by the others. The message may be verbal or non-verbal. Communication means talking, making friends, interacting with people, having relationships either private life relationships or work related. Communicating with others is essential in leading a normal life. We all communicate in our own way but we need to learn how to do it effectively. Question 2 2.0 Introduction Nowadays, many youngsters and gamers who like to catch up latest home video game console are using and playing Play station 3, Xbox 360, Wii in their house as it would be exciting, high graphic and satisfy gamers needs such as following games Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid 4, Assassins Creed and more. Why many people like to play home video game console? Because the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii user can entertainment at home without go out and the main point is the games graphic is High Density, everything in the game is very nice, lifelike, clearly. Our Company SonyZ has recently brought in Play station 4 (PS4), which is a high-tech slim home video game console with competes with Microsofts Xbox 360 and Nintendos Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Play station 4 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 3 as part of the PlayStation series. This product is suitable for teenagers and game rs. Though there are many different types of home video game console out in the market, Play station 3 serves as an effective and high quality product due to its top-notch built-in features and functions.The redesigned, slimmer version of the PlayStation 3 (commonly referred to as the PS4 Slim and officially branded PS4) is currently the only model in production. It features an upgradeable 120  GB, 160  GB, 250  GB or 320  GB hard drive and is 33% smaller, 36% lighter and consumes 34% (CECH-20xx) or 45% (CECH-21xx) less power than the previous model, or one third of the original PS4 model. The Cell microprocessor has moved to a 45  nm manufacturing process, which lets it run cooler and quieter than previous models, and the cooling system has been redesigned. The RSX moved to a 40  nm process in the latest revision. The PS4 slim also includes support for CEC (more commonly referred to by its manufacturer brandings of BraviaSync, VIERA Link, EasyLink etc.) which allows control of the console over HDMI by using the TVs remote control. The PS4 Slim no longer has the main power switch like the previous PS3 models, similar to redesigned PlayStation 3 slim. Support for emulation to play PS3 titles is not present in the Slim version. This product will soon-to-be-launched. The PlayStation 3 features a slot-loading 2x speed Blu-ray Disc drive for games, Blu-ray movies, DVDs, CDs and other optical media. It was originally available with hard drives of 20 and 60  GB (20  GB model was not available in PAL regions) but various sizes up to 320  GB have been made available since then (see: model comparison). All PS3 models have user-upgradeable 2.5 SATA hard drives. The PlayStation 3 uses the Sony, Toshiba, IBM-designed Cell microprocessor as its CPU, which is made up of one 3.2  GHz PowerPC-based Power Processing Element (PPE) and eight Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). The eighth SPE is disabled to improve chip yields. Only six of the seven SPEs are accessible to developers as the seventh SPE is reserved by the consoles operating system. Graphics processing is handled by the NVIDIA RSX Reality Synthesizer, which can output resolutions from 480i/576i SD up to 1080p HD. The PlayStation 3 has 256  MB of XD R DRAM main memory and 256  MB of GDDR3 video memory for the RSX. The system has Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for up to 7 bluetooth devices), gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 and HDMI 1.4built in on all currently shipping models. Wi-Fi networking is also built-in on all but the 20  GB models, while a flash card reader (compatible with Memory Stick, SD/MMC and CompactFlash/Microdrive media) is built-in on 60  GB and CECHExx 80  GB models. 2.1 How to communicate target audience to persuade them to buy this product First, know our audience. Not just the demos, but what are their needs, desires, goals and more. When you know that, look at your product/service to see how it addresses those needs. Think, too, of how it does it in ways that no other competing product can. And push beyond that to think about the ways in which our product enhances their lives that may not be readily obvious to them. Now, you have the keys to developing a message that reaches the right audience and develops the right connect. And if know our audience that well, you also know where to find them TV viewers, internet users, newspaper readers and more. That allows you to build a strategy laying out the key points or messages you want to convey and the optimal places or ways to convey it. But whatever you do, be present and genuine in your communications. Be engaged with the audience. Reply, chat, take criticism with praise, but stay in the conversation. Thats where really start to build the connect. And also, we will use the verbal and non verbal to communicate our product to persuade target audience to buy our product. Verbal communication is divided into written and oral communication. The oral communication refers to speaking words in the communication process. Oral communication can be face-to-face communication or a conversation over the phone or on the Messenger chat over the Internet. Spoken conversations or dialogs are affecting by voice modulation, volume and even the speed and clarity of speaking. The Another type of verbal communication is written communication. Written communication can be via letters, newspaper, mail, or email. The effectiveness of written communication depends on the style of writing, grammar, vocabulary used, clarity and precision of language. 2.2 ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Every purchasers of PS 3 will have one year warranty. Consumer can send back the PS 3 to our branches if the Play station got any problem without more than one year after purchased and not include those problems such as, the Play station was soaked by water, destroyed intentionally, lost cases. If some company makes an order in more than 100~30 units of Play station 3, delivery is available. The products we sold out are not refundable. Any purchased with cash, credit card and cheque are acceptable. 2.3 Advertisement for this product We advertising it by media, this means sharing information through radio, TV or Internet. Many computer users can find our product through internet. By advertising, it also includes billboards, flyers, banners, pamphlets, bus shelters and more. . Besides that , our company used promotion the element of the service mix which allows the consumer know our latest product by many way of promote, example : our product has invite some artist to advertisement in TV , big poster beside the highway road to let consumer know it, radio ,newspaper ,phone magazines , upload to internet web to let consumer know our product. And also, By PR (or Public Relations), these are the people a business hires to get their message out to others (like news outlets for example) for them to carry the message to customers or potential customers. A good way to get lots of free coverage. Besides that, by email send and receive information to keep customers informed and clear, and by online chat sessions are an effe ctive and common way to resolve customer complaints via the business web site. At last, by mail; many businesses send information as advertising or announcements using postal mail.

True Love in The Merchant of Venice Essay -- Merchant of Venice Essays

True Love in The Merchant of Venice      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Among the various themes presented in the Merchant of Venice the most important is the nature of true love.   The casket plot helps illustrate the theme.   Through a variety of suitors the descriptions of the caskets, Shakespeare shows the reader how different people view true love. He also shows what is most important to the suitors and in some cases it is not true love, but material things and outward appearance.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first suitor who tries to win Portia's hand is the Prince of Morocco.   When he first arrives in Belmont, the reader can see how arrogant the prince is, He says, "The best regarded virgins of our clilme/ hath loved it too..." (2.1, 10-11).   He is referring to the color of his ski n that is black.   He is telling Portia that his complexion has won him many women and he is dressed in all white.   The fact that he is, suggests that he is only concerned with outward appearance, and not with more important things such as true love.   The Prince of Morocco's superficial nature shines through even more clearly when it comes time to choose the casket. He does not want to risk anything, and therefore; he does not choose the lead casket whose inscription tells the suitor he must give up everything. The Prince, after looking at the inscription of the gold casket, which read "'who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire'" (2.7, 37), decides that what he desires most is the Portia's hand so the gold must be the correct casket.   He insists that the gold casket is the one holding Portia's picture because she is so much worthier than the lead casket.   The Prince believes t... ...ove, however, is for Bassanio and she wants to marry him.   Bassanio, by choosing to risk everything he has, shows the effects that true love can have on someone.   True love can conquer any fears or apprehensions you may have. He was willing to risk everything he had in order to show his love for Portia.   In the play, Bassanio shows what true love really means and how one can not mistake outward appearances for true love.   Put succinctly, one can do nothing but agree with the adage love conquers all.    Works Cited and Consulted    Barnet Sylvan.   "Introduction." The Merchant of Venice Ed. Sylvan Barnet.   New   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jersey : Prentice-Hall Inc., 1970.   1-10.    Granville-Barker, Harley.   "The Merchant of Venice.   " Shakespeare Ed. Leonard F. Dean.   Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1947.   37-71.   

Cryogenics: Is It Worth Waiting For? :: essays research papers fc

Cryogenics: Is It Worth Waiting For Imagine being frozen in time to escape a deadly illness, then getting warmed when a cure is found. There is question on whether cryogenic methods should be used. To fully understand cryogenics a knowledge of cold, background information on some branches of cryogenics, some problems with cryopresevation, and different peoples views towards cryogenics is needed. "Cold is usually considered hostile to mankind. Most people hate cold and with reasons." If not careful, cold can be deadly to animal and human life, but it can also help cure, because cold bodies perform functions slower (Kavaler 16- 17). Measurement of temperature is extremely important in cryogenics and the temperatures must be exact. The standard for scientific temperature measurement is the Kelvin scale. On the Kelvin scale absolute zero has a value of zero degrees on the thermometer. In theory no substance can be lowered to or below zero degrees Kelvin or absolute zero. Temperatures in cryobiology range from zero degrees Celsius--water freezes--to just above negative two hundred and seventy three point sixteen degrees Celsius--absolute zero. The word "Cryogenics" comes from the Greek word â€Å"kryos† meaning cold (â€Å"Cryogenics† Raintree 127, Kavaler 16). The science of cryobiology was first recognized in the early nineteen sixties. Cryobiology is the study of the effects of extremely low temperatures on living animals and plants. The chief concern in cryobiology is to preserve living matter for future use. This method can also be called cryopreservation. Cryotherapy is the use of extreme cold in treatment. The first trials of cryotherapy proved with great results (â€Å"Cryobiology† Comptons 1, McGrady 97). Frozen cells can be kept alive for very long periods of time in a state of â€Å"suspended animation.† Almost immediately after rapid thawing, the frozen cells regain normal activity. Cooling of the body causes a loss of feeling, therefore it can be used as anesthesia in surgery. Since certain drugs don’t affect healthy cells at low temperatures, the drugs can be safely used against cancerous tumors in the body. Cryogenics also helps in the preservation and storage of human tissues. Tissues such as eye corneas, skin, and blood that were rapidly frozen can be stored in â€Å"banks† for later use. Then skin can be grafted to burn victims and eye corneas can replace damaged ones. Thanks to Cryobiology blood can be frozen and stored for indefinitely for many years as opposed to only three weeks as it was before cryogenic technology was used. Surgeons can use a cryoscapel, freezing tips, to deaden or destroy tissue with great accuracy and little bloodshed (â€Å"Cryogenics† Academic 350, â€Å"Cryobiology† World Book 929).